PRODUCT OF THE MONTH

NASA Tech Briefs, Feb 2005

The Spherolinder® from g^sup 2^-Engineering, Mountain View, CA, improves load-carrying capacity of three-groove kinematic mounts by eliminating traditional point contacts while retaining repeatability. Standard repeatable kinematic mounts use three precision-ground spheres in conjunction with mating grooves to locate two parts in relation to each other, enabling them to be repositioned after disassembly. The Spherolinder is a mediating connector that replaces the sphere and eliminates the point contacts by replacing them with line contacts. As a result, a 1'' repeatable mount can carry up to 2,000 pounds per connector, compared to about 20 pounds for a traditional sphere-based design. Applications include heavy removable components, aligned instruments under dynamic loads, and optical instruments. The connector can be fabricated in stainless steel, tungsten carbide, and high-temperature ceramics and plastics.

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